Sapphire Ocean

“I love Greek and Roman architecture,” says the 16-year-old builder behind this project, Squity. “I was searching through some pictures and I was impressed by statues in the roof of a Greek temple. I decided to bring that aspect to my build.”

It’s exactly this kind of attention to detail that makes Squity’s work so mesmerising. He balances the surreal underwater world with more familiar feats of architecture that bring a sense of realism to the place.

The sea life that dwells here is also remarkably well realised. “For the terrain, I googled aqua plants, took some aspects and created my own plants.” Squity’s clearly got a talent for adapting the regular old sea life we all know into a new kind of blocky flora.

There are so many beautiful things to see in the Sapphire Ocean. Besides the architecture, the plant life and even the huge orca whale (the best part of the build IMHO), there’s also a statue of Poseidon sitting proudly, trident in hand. It’s Poseidon who’s Squity’s favourite. “I am always struggling with organics and this came out very well,” says Squity. “I am very proud of it.”

All aspects of this build are ambitious, but Squity pulls off every detail - whether it’s organic or not. I ask him how he started all of this, convinced he must have tried some other aspect of design before. But, as he explains, this wasn’t the case…

“When I was 12-years-old, I bought my own Minecraft account. I started playing survival and mini-games, but creative mode was my favourite. And every time I saw an amazing build I thought to myself; ‘Wow, that’s really awesome. One day I hope to build those things for myself.’

“I like building in Minecraft because of the 3D aspect - you can walk through your own builds and that’s amazing! Also, everything is made out of blocks so it’s a challenge to create something realistic. In 2014, I joined a small Dutch build team and in that team I met new friends and we were always practicing, practicing, practicing. These days, I’m still practicing with those same friends.”

“Before Minecraft, I didn’t build or design in any other way, but due to this game, I am going to pursue an education in design. I’m really interested in design.”

So what advice would he give to anyone who sees his builds and is inspired to start creating themselves?

“Join a build team and give each other tips. Check out what’s hot on Planet Minecraft and follow Minecraft artists on Twitter. If you want inspiration and to learn building techniques, be interested in others. When I started doing that, I got better in no time.”

Coast over to Planet Minecraft if you’d like to sea more of the Sapphire Ocean, and if you like it, be shore to let Squity know on Twitter!.

Renders by Iskillia, Mydelko, Trentu and Frogocomics